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a case or occurrence of anything:
fresh instances of oppression.
an example put forth in proof or illustration:
to cite a few instances.
Law. the institution and prosecution of a case.
Archaic. urgency in speech or action.
Obsolete. an impelling motive.
to cite as an instance or example.
to exemplify by an instance.
to cite an instance.
at the instance of, at the urging or suggestion of:
He applied for the assistantship at the instance of his professor.
for instance, as an example; for example:
If you were to go to Italy, for instance, you would get a different perspective on our culture.
Contemporary Examples

For instance, between 1977 and 1997, two-thirds of full-time workers had moved on to higher pay within a year.
Big Labor’s Big Mac Attack Nick Gillespie December 3, 2013

Damage limitation,” for instance, means “launching a nuclear bomb before the other guy can.
Be Afraid, Very Afraid Nathaniel Rich March 14, 2011

A film or a ride, for instance, which could include visual and audible sensations.
Oliver Sacks: How I Write Noah Charney December 18, 2012

The firm, for instance, has problems in the credit card debt areas, and tough times are ahead.
Is Jamie Dimon the Next to Fall? Charlie Gasparino January 4, 2009

That Breitbart post, for instance, makes no mention of the Troubles.
Blarney! The Faux Outrage Over Obama’s Belfast Comments Michael Moynihan June 20, 2013

Historical Examples

But perhaps as a—well, as a father, for instance— That bright boy of theirs now.
Love and Lucy Maurice Henry Hewlett

Don’t you think I might find some stored away in the cellar, for instance?
Brave and Bold Horatio Alger

It was not a large ball, by no means on the scale of Mr. Chamberlin’s, for instance.
A Modern Chronicle, Complete Winston Churchill

For instance, take a concrete case; so best can we illustrate.
‘Tis Sixty Years Since Charles Francis Adams

For instance, in the Christmas holidays I can have you to stay with me at Brighton.
Betty Vivian L. T. Meade

noun
a case or particular example
for instance, for or as an example
a specified stage in proceedings; step (in the phrases in the first, second, etc, instance)
urgent request or demand (esp in the phrase at the instance of)
(logic)

an expression derived from another by instantiation
See substitution (sense 4b)

(archaic) motive or reason
verb (transitive)
to cite as an example
n.

mid-14c., “urgency,” from Old French instance “eagerness, anxiety, solicitation” (13c.), from Latin instantia “presence, effort intention; earnestness, urgency,” literally “a standing near,” from instans (see instant). In Scholastic logic, “a fact or example” (early 15c.), from Medieval Latin instantia, used to translate Greek enstasis. This led to use in phrase for instance “as an example” (1650s), and the noun phrase To give (someone) a for instance (1953, American English).
programming
An individual object of a certain class. While a class is just the type definition, an actual usage of a class is called “instance”. Each instance of a class can have different values for its instance variables, i.e. its state.
(1998-03-06)
see under for example